


Catch a (high) Ride

by catquest



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: 420 fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, Drug Use, F/M, Kinda, Making Out, Marijuana, Shotgunning, not crack tho it's weed, set during ep 3, yeah we're going there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:21:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catquest/pseuds/catquest
Summary: Just a little Rhys/Fiona shotgunning to celebrate 420 haha blaze it.
Relationships: Fiona/Rhys (Borderlands)
Kudos: 17





	Catch a (high) Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Set during episode 3 of Tales but let's just pretend the gang had some time to explore the dome before shit went down and this is how Rhys and Fiona spent it. Also most of the weed stuff is me talking out of my ass so please it ignore any inaccuracies this is very much not set within our reality nor is it technically/scientifically accurate. Also sorry the title fucking sucks I ran out of time and creative energy lmao.

Fiona slaps at what has to be the thousandth bug that has somehow bitten her despite her long layers. Beside her Rhys doesn’t seem to be having the same problem with the pests as she is and she glares in his general direction. Why did she agree to this.

“Why did I agree to this?” Might as well make herself known.

Rhys startles at her voice, clearly not expecting much conversation out of her and she grins a little because he’s just too easy to mess with. 

“Because you were bored? And you said going on a walk with me would somehow be the more entertaining option than sitting with Vaughn who currently can’t speak or move?” He’s phrasing his statements like questions and it’s irking her but she decides to let it go as she remembers, yes indeed she did agree to go with him while Sasha got in some one on one training with Athena. Clearly her logic was flawed.

“Should’ve gone with the robots.” She swats at another bug. “Seriously how are you not getting eaten alive, this is-“ But she doesn’t finish because suddenly Rhys stops right in front of her causing her to walk directly into his back and cutting her off. Great, now she’s itchy and pissed off. “Hey, what-“ But he cuts her off again.

“Shh. Wait, do you smell that?” And she raises an eyebrow because maybe he did get bit by something, and was hallucinating smells. Well at least something would be happening then.

“One, why are you shushing me for a smell, two, don’t shush me and three-“ She cuts herself off this time because when she actually pauses try to smell whatever he’s referring to she definitely notices something vaguely familiar that she can’t place. There’s something else too, something nice but when she moves closer to see if she can find the source she finds herself shuffling up closer to Rhys and realizes he’s what smells nice. She immediately distances herself, slightly disturbed and choosing to focus on the original scent. Luckily Rhys doesn’t seemed to have noticed her lapse of judgment. “Yeah I smell something too.” Totally saved it.

Rhys starts moving then, off the path and it doesn’t seem particularly safe but Fiona’s got nothing else to do so she simply follows his lead. He’s in the front so if anything happens it’ll be to him and it would serve him right for shushing her.

They walk for a few yards before Rhys stops again. “Oh my god.” And before Fiona can question him she sees it too. Well that explains the smell.

“Holy shit.” Because really there isn’t much of a better response to the massive bundle of marijuana plants directly in front of them.

“Yeah..” Rhys trails off and reaches out to touch one with his right hand. “What the hell was this place..” 

Fiona shrugs, talking in the unfamiliar sight and not knowing what to do with this new information. “Somebody’s weird garden I guess. Does it matter?” She turns to face Rhys and suddenly his eyes widen and they both seem to come to the same conclusion at the same time. 

“Well..” Now he’s smiling.

“Rhys.”

“You are bored. You did say you wanted something to do..”

“Rhys. We don’t know who this belongs to or how they’d react to it being gone, are you really suggesting we-“ He cuts off again and dammit she’s gonna have to put him in his place soon.

“Fiona, are you really trying to not be a criminal for once and suggesting we not steal and smoke a strangers weed, or are you arguing just because you want to contradict me?”

“...”

—

They end up back in the caravan.

It’s the only place with decent privacy since they don’t want to have to explain themselves to the robots and they don’t know the surroundings of the dome well enough to let go of their inhibitions enough to get high in it. Plus Vaughn would be there just watching unable to join in and that seems kinda rude.

“Okay do you have any paper?” Rhys is at the table and has been spending the past while seemingly crumbling up the few leaves they stole while Fiona sits next to him and watches. She’s not entirely sure how it works and she’s not about to out herself as knowing less about this kind of stuff than he does by asking, so she hasn’t offered any help.

“Um.”

Rhys looks up at with one somehow still perfectly groomed eyebrow raised, as if just now realizing her lack of participation. “Have you even done this before Fiona?”

Okay, now she bristles because, “Of course I have!” Because of course she has. If it’s maybe been nearly a decade and was only a couple times when she and Sasha were teens it’s none of his business. Trying to get the slight flush she can feel against her cheeks under control she counters, “Have you?”

Going from questioning to smug Rhys smirks and for some reason it doesn’t help with Fiona’s blush. He mimics her, “Of course I have Fi, oh if only Vaughn could speak right now he’d tell you some stories.” He chuckles a little before trailing off. “Course he didn’t do it much himself. I can’t really tell you the stories cause I don’t really remember them but..” Looking over at Fiona who’s now close to smirking herself, Rhys rushes to finish. “Good times! Fun was had, haha college was wild!” The roles now properly reversed Rhys has a pretty pink flush over his nose and high cheekbones and Fiona feels satisfied enough to move on to the next step.

They end up using an old wanted poster of Fiona she tore down before this whole venture truly started, ripping it into small pieces and rolling the crumpled up leaves into sloppy joints, making the best of what they have. They’re both clearly out of practice but neither is willing to admit it. It’s harder than Fiona remembers and many of her attempts don’t survive, and by the end they’re left with only several passable options.

Rhys is holding his best bet in his right hand, already having complained about the stickiness of the entire process and now trying to only use his cybernetic to avoid touching it with his flesh. “Okay.” He looks a little nervous, almost as if just now realizing what planet he’s on and having no idea how this what was supposedly weed came to be let alone what it could be made up of. But they’ve come this far and when he looks up at Fiona she tosses him a lighter over the table with her own unwashed sticky fingers and he grimaces at the feel before flicking it on and lighting the joint. They both pause to take in the sight of it slowly burning before Rhys brings it up to his mouth and inhales.

Almost immediately Rhys has it pulled away from his face and is coughing, hard. Fiona doesn’t feel the slightest bit bad that she’s just as quickly laughing at him, though when it continues for a beat too long she unhelpfully pounds on his back in support. 

“Shut up!” Rhys rasps at her with his throat rough from the coughing, his eyes are watering but he’s already smiling a little. “It’s been awhile okay?” He sets the joint down and tries to catch his breath.

“Aw what, does Helios have some anti drug campaign going on up there? Doesn’t seem like that would be high on their agenda.” Fiona chuckles a little at herself then. “Heh, high.”

To her surprise Rhys bursts out laughing, and he seriously can’t be buzzed already, she figured him for a lightweight but that just didn’t seem possible. Then again they still had no idea what was actually in the stuff. When he’s finished Rhys clears his throat and addresses her inquiry.

“Not quite. I mean it was more of a just don’t mention it situation, easy enough to get if you wanted but..” He rubs the back of his neck now, looking almost meek. “I was up for that promotion, and you just never knew what Hyperion was gonna throw at you so.. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk.”

Fiona’s grinning now because this is too good. “Aww you didn’t get to party because you might have to pee in a cup the next day? That’s adorable. Was drinking off limits too?” She’s sniggering, but then Rhys is holding the joint up to her as if as a challenge.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up, just show me if you’re really any better.” She takes it from him, choosing to prove herself rather than to take the bait and get caught up in an endless bickering cycle. She puts it up to her lips and Rhys brings the lighter up himself, and she lets him light it for her, choosing to ignore how intimate it feels.

“Whatever, narc.” Fiona says before she inhales.

The results are almost exactly the same as Rhys’ from moments earlier and Fiona finds herself nearly doubled over hacking up a lung as he laughs at her. 

“Takes one to know one.” Rhys says, wiping a tear from his eye when she finally comes for air. She feels like she should be more annoyed but instead she feels.. Happy? Ugh maybe that stuff was stronger than she thought. Her and Rhys are bonding and rather than recoil at realization she wants to continue. And so they do.

They both take a couple more hits off their shared joint but the reaction is almost the same every time, uncontrollable coughing, laughter, sore throats. It’s fun but it’s becoming more annoying than it’s worth, so they pause for a break to sit and take in the moment, trying to see if either feels a buzz yet. 

Fiona’s a bit lightheaded and her vision is beginning to blur around the edges, and from across the table she thinks she can see Rhys’ eyes are reddening, the human one at least. They’re both more relaxed than when they started, and perhaps more than they have been since before this whole road trip/heist/hunt for a vault key. It’s been a stressful few weeks.

“Hey.” Fiona looks up at Rhys’ voice and he’s looking at her with an expression she can’t place, one she’s never seen on him before. “Do you wanna try something?” 

She doesn’t question it, just nods, feeling almost giddy and up for anything. Stealing this weed really was a great idea. This was so much better than being bored.

“So like, since apparently both of us can’t smoke without coughing out our organs, maybe..” He trails off and there’s a flush across his face Fiona doesn’t think is from the pot. “I could like, take a hit, and hold it, then like give it to you. In your mouth. Oh god that sounded so wrong.” Rhys looks slightly horrified at his choice of words. “I mean it doesn’t have to be. You could take the hit and give it to me in my mouth.” He shakes his head. “I mean it might make it less intense. I just. Please say something.”

Fiona’s staring at him, mouth slightly agape and then Rhys is saying, “Oh god I knew this was a dumb idea, never mind, forget I said anything, hopefully we’ll forget most of this anyway-“

“You want to shotgun?” Now it’s Rhys’ turn to look surprised. Then he giggles.

“I didn’t expect you to know the term.” And for some reason that ticks Fiona off. Enough that she decides she will prove just how much she knows what he’s talking about.

“Of course I- are you seriously making fun of me when you just basically asked me to kiss you?” Rhys splutters.

“Well I- no I didn’t, I-“ And deciding to put him out of his misery Fiona picks up and relights the joint as he watches, and inhales. 

She holds it in as he suggested, because although she knew the term it didn’t mean she had actually done it herself before, and brings up her hands to cup either side of Rhys’ face. Then her lips were on his and they were both opening their mouths and breathing in the shared smoke. He was right, it made it easier to inhale, and by the time Fiona was pulling away she was out of breath, but not from coughing.

Rhys’ dumb face is awestruck, and he hasn’t moved despite Fiona pulling herself back, then she realizes her hands are still on him, keeping him in place and she quickly lets go. “Wow.” Is all he can say once he’s free and then he’s just grinning dopily at her. “Your hands are still sticky.”

Fiona clears her throat, looks down at the table, wipes her hands on her pants. She picks up the joint, offering it back to him. “Your turn.” He takes it and when he smiles at her Fiona finds herself grinning right back.

They take a few more hits off it together, tongues getting involved in the mix and soon it’s cast aside and forgotten in favor of making out. 

Fiona’s definitely dizzy now, Rhys starts kissing down her jawline at some point she’s too warm under all her layers, sweaty, and the entire caravan smells like weed. Rhys is in the middle of giving her what will probably amount to a very sloppy and obvious hickey that she will have to yell at him about when she cares more, when he stops, and starts sniggering against her neck.

“What?” As annoying as the placement of it will be she was enjoying Rhys’ mouth on her and the sudden pause wasn’t one she was entirely pleased with. Rhys lifts himself up to look at her and explain himself.

“I just..” More snickering. “You’re smoking Fiona. I always wanted to tell you that. We’re smoking together.” Then he’s full on laughing, leaning against her and she can feel the vibrations from his body. She sits there not quite knowing how to process this turn of events, before deciding to shut him up in the newest way she knows how. Using both hands to fist his collar and pull him towards her she presses their mouths together for what feels like the millionth time that day.

So much better than boredom.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's kinda rushed, I wanted to be able to publish in time for weed day because otherwise what purpose does it serve. Might go back and edit/make changes later because I'm not entirely happy with it especially with the ending and I could've done more with the actual shotgunning, but I hope someone out there enjoyed it nonetheless.


End file.
